Is a lost love worth a Return to Exile?

Posted on by July 8, 2015
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Deb’s Dozen:12-Word Summary–Back to the future, love left in the past. Can love triumph?

To enable her daughter and son to escape the clutches of the evil proconsul, Aspasius, Lisbeth Hasting’s mother, Magdalena, attempts to send them all back to the future. However, soldiers seize Laurentius, so Magdalena forces Lisbeth to go by herself.

Lisbeth, pregnant with Cyprian’s daughter, survives the trip. She becomes a specialist in the area of merging natural and modern medicine. She also becomes an expert on 3rd-century Rome. When her father comes across an ancient text that indicates Cyprian was beheaded, Lisbeth decides she must go back to see if she can rescue him.

Cyprian has lost all—his freedom and the love of his life. The advent of a new emperor in Rome makes Cyprian decide to return to Carthage to see if he can pick up the pieces and help the fledging Christian Church.

When her daughter, Maggie, comes with her by mistake, and with Carthage still in the throes of an epidemic, Lisbeth finds her return very difficult and perhaps deadly. Will the time apart have destroyed the love she left behind? Will he love their daughter? How will Maggie adapt? Will the medicines she brought with her stave off the epidemic?

Return to Exile continues the adventures of Lisbeth Hastings Thracius, her husband, Cyprian, her mother, Magdalena, and the story of ancient Carthage.

Lynne Gentry gets better and better – this time she threw in a couple of twists I was not in any way expecting, but which greatly added to my enjoyment of the novel. I devoured this one as I did the first in The Carthage Chronicles, Healer of Carthage. Another five star book to her credit!

To keep up with Lynne Gentry, visit www.lynnegentry.com, become a fan on Facebook (Author-Lynne-Gentry), or follow her on Twitter (@Lynne_Gentry) and Pinterest (Lynnegentry7)

I was given a copy of Return to Exile by Howard Books for my candid review.

All of Me Wants All of You: Sensual Intimacy, Sacred Power

Posted on by July 8, 2015
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All of Me Wants All of YouDeb’s Dozen:12-Word Summary – God designed us for love and beauty, and that includes beautiful sex.

Dean Nelson is unhappy. He’s been stuck in a sexless marriage for years. A virile man, Dean cannot understand what has changed his wife, Kate, into someone for whom sex is the last thing on her list. As frequently happens in such situations, Dean is tempted when he meets beautiful, sexy Larissa, the mother of a young man who works in his company’s warehouse. Just when things start to heat up, Dean ends it: he must stay faithful to the vow made to God and to Kate when they were married.

Kate, on the other hand, cannot understand why “all he wants” is sex all the time. She hopes against hope that she can avoid the act again the night of their anniversary when they’ve promised each other massages. She is so busy with church and home and volunteer work and her two daughters along with being the perfect (in all other regards) wife, that sex with Dean is the last thing she has the energy to contemplate.

As Dean researches his situation, he finds that this situation is not at all uncommon – that many marriages are sexless for one reason or another. As Dean explores further, and discusses the situation with his best friend and his pastor, he begins to understand there are two sides to every story. Kate, talking to her friends, expresses her dissatisfaction, and she starts to learn why she so avoids the intimacy of the marriage bed.

We as Christians seem to have pushed sex aside, but we need to remember that God inspired the beautiful Song of Songs. One of the telling quotes from All of Me is “It’s not a lack of love that makes marriages monotonous; it’s a lack of focus. Instead of fleeting moments of pleasure, God wants our marriages to experience greater depths of pleasure and ongoing intimacy that lead us to true inner joy.” And another, “Marital intimacy is the highest priority in God’s divine design, because it symbolizes the intimacy between Himself and His people. God’s nature and His love for people are passionate and intense, not cool or aloof. He is erotic and loves to express that love to those he loves.” While you may not agree with everything Mr. Howard has written, you will be intrigued and educated and entertained all at the same time.

I strongly recommend you read All of Me Wants All of You – no matter if you’re newly married or years wed. You will learn so much about God and yourselves and your marriage.

Thanks to J. Z. Howard, All4U Publishing, and the BookFun Network for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for my candid review.

A Call to Linger in the Savior’s Presence – His Arms Open Wide

Posted on by July 8, 2015
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Deb’s Dozen: A Call to Linger in the Savior’s Presence – His Arms Open Wide

During our recent blizzard in Plymouth, I took the time to reorganize the books I have to review. One of the books I discovered—to my great joy—was Arms Open Wide by Sherri Gragg. I’d been searching for that book for several months in order to meet my reviewing commitment.

As I was reading the thirty-five devotions in the book, the beautiful word pictures Sherri created brought me to near tears several times. The beautiful words transported me back to when our Lord walked this world and interacted with the people around Him. The devotion entitled “The Light of the World” enraptured me. My husband and I teach a small group study on a weekly basis and have been teaching the Book of John. We’d just taught the lesson to which this devotion refers (John 8:12-20). I had researched the Feast of Tabernacles and the lighting of the four candelabras in the Court of Women at the end of the festival. Because I’d “been” there so recently, the words came alive with special meaning.

“Light represented both the pillar of fire that had led their fathers in the wilderness as well as God’s shekhinah glory. The rabbis taught that God wrapped Himself in light as a garment that could not shine by day lest it dim the sun. His divine light was that from which the sun, moon, and stars had been kindled, and it was now reserved under the throne of God for Messiah when He came . . . a few days later, Jesus of Nazareth stood in the temple courts and raised His voice: ‘I am the light of the world, Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” How grateful I am that He has shone His light into my life!

Sherri has said that Scripture never lived for her as it has since she visited Israel at age forty-one, and “was introduced to the concept of interpreting scripture through the cultural lens in which it was written.” Roy and I teach that one must consider the times in which scripture was written, but Sherri takes us there.

I guarantee you will be blessed reading and meditating on these exquisitely-written devotionals. Arms Open Wide is one book I will keep and often re-read . Thank you, Sherri! You can learn more about Sherri and her writing at http://www.sherrigragg.com.

I thank Thomas Nelson Publishers for giving me a copy of Arms Open Wide in exchange for my candid review.